Title: Perchance to Dream (1/2)

Summary: To be here, to lay in the sun with him, at times felt like no more than a dream. Sequel to Destruction in Desire. Spoilers for Breaking Dawn.

Rating: M

Disclaimer: Twilight and all related places and characters belong to Stephenie Meyer.

A/N: After all of the wonderful reviews and requests for more, how could I not continue filling in the blanks of Edward and Bella's honeymoon? So here is the sequel to Destruction in Desire. This will be a two-part tale, the first from Bella's perspective (her untold dream from P. 106-107 just itching to be revealed) and the second from Edward's (one all-too-willing thoroughly seduced husband!). Feedback is again much appreciated!

The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to,--'t is a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub:
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come

Hamlet, Act III, Scene i

William Shakespeare

My mind hovered in the darkness, straddling the worlds of asleep and awake, content to drift aimlessly as my eyes remained shut to the world. Without sight, my other senses became slightly heightened, the environment around me mapped out in touch and sound. The noon sun beat down upon me, the slight shade of the nearby palm trees taking the sting out of the burning rays but leaving the heat to diffuse throughout my skin as if warm water was running through my veins. A light breeze carried a fine mist of ocean spray from the curling waves of the bright, blue sea, their gentle crashing one of nature's most beautiful lullabies. Underneath me, I could feel the sand clinging to my skin, molding itself to my body as my weight caused me to slightly sink into its warm embrace.

I wondered, as I found myself doing more often as the time grew closer to the day when I would become immortal like my beloved husband, what the same environment would feel like when I became a vampire. Would it feel the same, sound the same? Would the heat of the sun above still burn me, or would it be a balm to my chilled skin, warming me from the inside like it did the snakes that could be found sunning themselves on rocks back in Phoenix? Would the sound of the waves still be a gentle lullaby, or would my improved hearing morph them into a cacophony, a mismatched orchestra? Would the sand still feel like one entity, or would I be able to feel each minute particle, each tiny grain of quartz and rock, coral and shell individually? Edward and the rest of our family had tried at various times to explain the differences between mortal and immortal senses, but I knew that until I was one of them, I could never truly comprehend how differently Edward and I viewed the world around us.

A shadow fell across my face, the semi-darkness behind my eyelids turning ebony, interrupting my wandering thoughts. Blinking open my eyes, I was greeted with a sight that shone more than the sun high above, my Edward's face mere inches from my own, his skin sparkling like the most perfect diamond, gold eyes dancing with amusement. It was a view so heavenly that I could stare at it for all eternity and a shiver of excitement swept through me as I remembered that barring any unforeseen complications or separations (such as week-long Alice-instigated tort..., I mean shopping, excursions), there was no reason I couldn't. Of course, never taking my eyes from Edward's face would make certain activities a trifle hard, so perhaps I should amend that view to include all of him, from the tips of his unruly bronze hair to each flawlessly formed toe and all the perfection in between.

"I leave for ten minutes and you fall asleep on me," he teased, breaking through my mental musings, one cold finger reaching out to brush a stray lock of hair from my face, "Typical human."

Usually any reminder of what I stood to lose when he changed me, like the ability to fall asleep, would cause a shadow of pain to darken his burnished gold eyes but this time they remained clear, a testament to how much the prospect of eternity together was erasing his doubts. Enough that I felt confident enough to tease him without fear that he would shut down and pull away as he was want to do.

"I was not asleep and even if I was, you only have yourself to blame. I was not the one who kept us up all last night. We mere mortals do require some rest, Mr I-Don't-Need-Sleep."

I glared at him with mock indignity as I spoke, lifting a hand so I could jab his smooth marble chest in emphasis, becoming slightly dazed by the rainbow light thrown by his sparkling skin. My false anger could never last long in the face of my angel's utter beauty. To be here, to lay in the sun with him, at times felt like no more than a dream.

He chuckled in response, his sweet breath washing over me as he leant forward to press a chaste kiss against my lips, his hands coming to rest on either side of my shoulders in the warm sand.

"I don't recall you complaining at the time love," he murmured into my skin as he pressed butterfly soft kisses along my jaw line, "In fact, I seem to recall you were quite…vocal in your appreciation."

A faint blush suffused my cheeks and not for the first time, I prayed for the day when my embarrassment would no longer be painted upon my skin for all to see. It did not last long though, rapidly replaced by want as Edward's kisses upon my skin became more insistent, one hand leaving its resting place on the sand to dance lightly across the bare skin of my stomach. Alice had packed only bikinis into my suitcase, and though the one I wore was the most conservative of them all, the royal blue halter top and boyleg shorts combination still left more of my skin exposed than I was usually comfortable with, even with my husband the only soul around to see me.

"What are you thinking?" came a husky yet musical whisper, Edward's kisses stopping at the valley between my breasts, his chin resting upon my chest so he could gaze into my eyes. His hand was still splayed across my stomach, fingertips tracing looping patterns onto my flesh, the contrast between my heated skin (warmer than usual thanks to the sun) and his chilled hand causing ripples of pleasure to shoot downwards, an ache beginning to build between my thighs.

"Nothing," I answered, shifting slightly so I could intertwine a hand into his hair, "Nothing important."

"Bella…" Edward started, his voice tinged with frustration, "I wish you wouldn't edit your thoughts, It's hard not being able to hear you."

I opened my mouth to inform him that these thoughts were not worth hearing when a wicked smirk curled the edges of his mouth and a calculated gleam appeared in his eye.

"What are you thinking?"

I echoed his words nervously, my heart speeding up as he moved to straddle me in the sand, his left hand catching hold of both of my own and pinning them above my head before I could protest (not that I wanted to, being surrounded by Edward was always a good thing, despite whatever that gleam meant he had planned).

"I'm thinking," he said softly, his head hovering above my chest, the sunlight shining off his back, "That I'm just going to have to entice you into telling me what's going on in that beautiful head of yours."

"I'll never tel…" I started to say resolutely but the effect was ruined as the end of the sentence dissolved into a low moan when his perfect lips closed around one nylon-encased nipple. His cool mouth teased the sensitive point, his tongue swirling around the pebbling skin. The friction created by the fabric only enhanced the sensation and sparks shot through my body, adding to the need which was clouding my brain. Where his hips pressed against mine, he rocked against me, the evidence of his own desire grinding against mine causing my lower half to buck upwards impatiently, trying to feel more of him, all of him.

"Tell me what you were thinking," he commanded seductively, the words vibrating through my skin.

A whimper escaped my lips as his mouth abandoned its previous spot but he did not leave me unsatisfied for long, his free hand deftly untying the straps of my bikini top, the fabric barely having fallen to the wayside when his lips were on me again, this time caressing naked flesh. His fingertips trailed everywhere, up my arms, across my neck, down my stomach, my legs, exploring every inch, the icy tips leaving trails of fire in their wake.

"Edward," I managed to gasp out, ignoring his command. The sound of his name only encouraged him, his hips grinding harder against mine for a moment before he pulled back, resting on his knees so he could move downwards. He pressed kisses to the skin his fingers had explored, his tongue tasting my skin as he went. I felt like I was aflame, my body unbearably hot, the ache between my legs acute to the point of pain.

Tears of frustration leaked from my eyes as he bypassed where I needed him most, his kisses trailing all the way down my left leg, then my right.

"Patience love," he whispered softly, caressing every toe before moving the icy torture back up my leg, higher and higher, my moan echoing into the sultry air as he nuzzled the skin of my inner thigh.

He stopped, his breath lightly blowing on the most intimate part of me, anticipation rising in my veins, He raised his head to lock his golden gaze on me, expectation shining in their depths.

"Tell me Bella," he commanded again, his tongue darting out to lightly press against my bikini bottoms before he retreated, laying a kiss on the skin directly above the elastic band.

"I was thinking…" I stuttered, my mind muddled by the passionate haze which had settled upon me. What had I been thinking? I could not remember, everything had been swept away by my husband's ministrations and all that was left was desire and love and a need, a need so strong that I would do anything to assuage it.

"I was thinking about how being Bella Cullen is the most fantastic thing in the world," I blurted out, a true statement though I knew not the one I had been contemplating earlier. However my answer seemed to appease Edward, his beautiful eyes shining with love and gratitude for the underlying message that I did not regret marrying him despite my earlier reluctance, before they darkened with desire once again.

"Now, that wasn't so hard was it?" he murmured before nuzzling his face against me, the light pressure pulling a whimper from my throat. His hands impatiently pushed aside the fabric so he could lay kisses on bare flesh, his tongue swirling around my sensitive nub. I could not contain my cries, my pleas for more as he brought wave and wave of pleasure upon me with his talented tongue, any embarrassment felt at being so exposed swept away by a current of bliss. His hands did not stay still either, one lay heavy across my stomach, the other dipped into me again and again, his cool fingers stroking and curling inside me, dragging moan after moan from my lips

"So beautiful, my Bella," I could hear him whisper before I lost the ability to process my surroundings, my world narrowed down to the sensations he was creating. The pleasure coiled in my stomach, building and building, the fire in my veins burning me deliciously from the inside out till it exploded in a flurry of sparks, my beloved's name torn from my lips as the world turned upside down and I fell into the dark. And when my eyes opened to a darkened ceiling instead of a blinding sun, and my body awoke to the feeling of a cool form curled next to and not on top of me, the sense of loss for that easy interaction, the grief for that Edward unencumbered by the guilt of hurting me, was more than I could bear.